Gilead. CHECK.

So! I finished Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. It was a bit of a battle only in that the book isn't a page turner. I'm also pretty uneducated on the Bible, so it made some of the more theological things harder to understand. But, it was just so peaceful and lovely and introspective. John Ames is a truly remarkable man, and I know he's fictional but even so. He's the sort of person I wish I could know in real life.

Life's fine. Quiet. I'm content with that. Bookstore is still fun - finding new things I want to read on a daily basis. If you check out my GoodReads account you can see that for yourself.

Currently working through Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. Loved the movie, wanted to check out the book. Gotta say, the movie was pretty pitiful. Very interesting visuals, but the story suffered in comparison to the book. Writing is fine, but the lore and history are really quite wonderful.

Playing lots of video games too. I'm terminally uncool I think.

Next up on the book club list is The Other Bolelyn Girl. I'm nervous to think that I'll be reading it - my history major personality might retch... I just hope it's not grossly inaccurate. Because historical fiction need not wrench the truth into something saucy to be interesting and well done.......

oops again

So. Whoops. I haven't updated since August...? My bad. Life has settled into a routine for me now. It's been five months at Nonesuch, and I'm enjoying it and still learning every day. Who knew the book industry was so layered? But after a few missteps I feel that I'm doing a much better job at the store.

I've moved to Portland, Maine, in an attempt to be closer to the store and enrich my life a bit. Nothing wrong with Auburn ME, of course, but living with my parents and driving an hour each way to work was a little bit frustrating.

My only problem is that I don't get out much. It's been a couple months here and I still haven't really gone out and done a whole lot. Which doesn't bother me as much it should, I think - I'm poor and paying student loans.

Reading has been fun, haven't really done a whole lot of late. Enjoyed The Sparrow and Children of God by Mary Doria Russell immensely, however. Been in a bit of a lull since then, though.

I'll try to update more often, however. I promise. Bug me if I don't.

Oops.

What's the point of starting a blog if you forget about it? Not sure myself. But I managed to do just that. Luckily my friend Steve has started a blog about books which has group postings, which reawakened me to my own neglected corner of cyberspace.

I've graduated college, now, and am back home in Maine. I've worked part-time this summer at Mr. Paperback, the good ol' bookstore I've worked at for the past five years. I've actually accepted a position at Nonesuch Books in South Portland, Maine, where I'll be the new assisstant manager. If anything, I hope that this new job will be the beginning of a career in books and bookselling. I don't need to be wealthy, and to be honest, I would never be wealthy working in books unless I somehow came to own my own publishing corporation, which seems a bit unlikely. But as long as I can live and support myself and skulk about dusty bookshelves, I think I'll be fine. People seem to think I've wasted my time in college if I'm settling for an assistant manager position at a small bookstore, but I think people are full of hot air and stupid notions. I've always said that I'd work at a bookstore for the rest of my life if I could make a living off of it, and it seems that this is finally something possible with nonesuch. And if anything, I'm staying positive about my degree - I've learned to write well and think critically, as well as learn about literary history and literary analysis. I think it'll be a great help when working around literature.

Who knows - it doesn't have to be permanent, and until I move down to Portland it won't be as lucrative financially as it could be. But it's my first full-time job, it's with a manager I've known for a long time, and it's a busy store. Plus it's independant and not part of a chain or corporate office. I think it's going to be fun.

Until next time. Hopefully this will be updated more frequently in the future.

And on a sidenote...

Hope Leslie bites.

Things to do...

...Which I am not doing. My presentation on Moby-Dick is this week, and I've been placed on the "Gender and Sexuality" group. A very broad topic in general, but quite quizzical when placed in the Moby-Dick context. I'm taking the helm of the queer theory aspect, and Prof. Neuman would like to focus mostly on what queer theory is, an then apply it to the text. Having to worry simply about theory and not specific Melville criticism is hard - especially since I have such a rudimentary grasp on theory as is.

I spent hours in the library today poring over articles and printing off excerpts from the John Hopkins Online Guide to Literary Theory, which is helpful. I can't really say that it's fun, though. I know some people are really into theory and discuss it at length, but I just find myself a little bit bored and scared of it. I know I shouldn't, but wouldn't you be if your experience with theory was limited to reading Derrida as a sophomore?

On top of that, I just checked out the new course listings (I'm clever and found them online without them being "officially" posted). And the English seminar that I was banking on taking is being offered at the same time of a class I NEED for my history major. And the only other option is also at the same time as my history capstone.

Stress, stress, stress. Is it time for Thanksgiving break yet?

this post lacks substance, but makes up for it in verbose rambling.

I gotta admit, I've never really been much for blogs. I own and still do keep up with a livejournal, but to be completely honest it's lacked much of a purpose other than providing angsty snapshots into the lives of my friends, and to keep up with celebrity scandal (oh hai, ONTD!). However, I've found I'm rather dullminded when it comes to writing in my actual journal, and sometimes I've yearned for a place where I can write whatever I've been thinking that doesn't involve the weird pretension I feel when writing about myself in a little leatherbound book. So I shall ramble incoherently and use the passive voice in an unforgivable manner on my very own blog.

I've spent most of my current year craving fiction of my own reading. I've got some wonderful books under my belt so far this year, and I really am enjoying reading what I am reading - as well as subsequent discussion later on in classes. Being an English and History double major is so perfect, simply because of this. However, even so, I get so misery from the fact that there are SO many wonderful new (and old) books out there that I'm just craving to delve into. I made the mistake of visiting Mr. Paperback this weekend, which ended up being both painful and enjoyable - seeing my fellow booksellers is always fun, but it makes me miss them, as well as all the books.

This summer I almost went without social interaction for the company of my books - and I read more in one summer than I think I ever have before in such a time frame - from the dense and historical/biographical (Nicholas & Alexandra - absolutely EXQUISITE), to the spartan (The Road - equally breathtaking), to the complex and psychological (The Secret History -again, fabulous.), all the way to the wildly populer (ALL the Harry Potter books). While Moby-Dick is not my ideal choice, I've enjoyed reading it. I just really miss some of the fun/interesting contemporary stuff.

Friends from home: I move for some sort of book club. I'm going to be in need for some serious discussion regarding books once I graduate.

Friends from school/any other Clark community member: FInd a way to let me be a student forever. My love affair with my academics here is all-encompassing.

I think that's a suitable first post. Cheers, muffins.